Yesterday, we discussed the basic fundamentals you need to accept in order for your score to start improving… and today I’ll give you a simple formula you can use to create your own practice routine.
I don’t believe getting better at golf has to be hard… but you can make improving harder for yourself.
Tip of the day golfers will NEVER beat a the golfer with a plan.
- You must first accept that tips of the day are a waste of your time…
- You must accept that a new club or gadget isn’t going to cure that awful setup and grip…
- You must accept it’s going to take time… in incremental steps…
- You must accept… that you need a solid plan if you want to improve…
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Anything that requires skill is going to take time to master.
A musician doesn’t pick up a guitar and tear off a great riff… no, he learns to tune the guitar, some basic cords, then works on his finger work to build dexterity. Over time he is able to play one song… then another… until he can create his own.
Golf is the same. It just requires time and smart planning.
I know in today’s world of instant this and that, it is hard to accept the fact that acquiring a skill will require time. And to be honest, this is unacceptable to most golfers.
This is your competitive advantage over other golfers.
Other golfers aren’t willing to lay down a strong foundation and build a wealth of skill, confidence and consistency.
That’s why you are reading this… you are serious… you understand that practicing with a purpose is going to lay the foundation of success.
We’ve seen it over and over again in our Single Digit Blueprint. Golfers buy in to our methods and philosophy and those scores start to descend.
Just this past summer we had several golfers become club champions… basically coming out of nowhere to win their courses championship.
One of our students, Justin Tucker, was the 8th seed in his club championship and he went on to knock off the #1 seed with relative ease.
Justin then went on to knock off the rest of the field to claim his first club championship.
Justin didn’t just win, he decimated his competition. In each of his rounds they didn’t even finish 18 full holes he had won so many holes.
You can do the same thing!!
So let’s get down to business…
The Perfect Practice Plan
Before we dive into building a monster plan, we need to know how much time we have.
Ideally, you need 1 hour and 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to hit each aspect of your game.
My sessions include full shots with irons and woods, RedZone shots, putting, chipping, and a small amount of sand work (depending on the course I play or will be playing).
So my personal timing is as follows:
Full Swing: 20 minutes
RedZone: 20 minutes
Chipping / Greenside: 20 minutes
Putting: 20 minutes
Sand (greenside): 10 minutes
Additionally, I have allocated another 15 minutes of time for neural programming at home… also known as “Greasing the Groove” or GTG’s as our Single Digit Blueprint clients call it.
In addition, each of my personal workouts are geared for golf… aimed at training my full body for balance, strength, power and once a week for endurance.
Now that you’ve seen my plan, here is Rich’s personal plan based on his preferences… and you’ll notice his putting session is longer than mine… maybe thats why he has 28 or 29 putts per round?
Full Swing: 35 minutes
RedZone: 10 minutes
Chipping / Greenside: 10 minutes
Putting: 30 minutes
Sand (greenside): 5 minutes
Your timing will vary based on how much time you can allocate each day. You’ll want to turn off your phones texting and any distractions… I usually put on Ice Cube on my phone and listen… the slow beats help with my timing. 🙂
Now onto the meat of this plan…
With the above timing, we are able to break our program into chunks and ensure we are hitting each area with enough time to keep things sharp.
How to Design the Perfect Practice Plan
If you are a member of the Single Digit Blueprint, building your plan will be easy. In fact, I’m going to use the SDB to build out an example plan based on my personal time preferences. However, I’m just going to build out a plan for one week.
Ideally, you will sit down and craft a full 4 week plan.
First thing, I need to know where my game stands overall… and I have a pretty good idea because I’ve taken all of the Pressure Tests inside of the Single Digit Blueprint.
The pressure tests recreate on course pressure in a set and controlled environment… the range or practice green. If you aren’t a member of the Single Digit Blueprint, the drills and Pressure Tests I mention may not mean anything to you… but if you are a member, you can see how I’ve stacked all of the Challenges to work out one nice practice routine.
Knowing my results and stats is very important, because that is the benchmark I will use to see how much I improve over the next 4 weeks of my plan.
I will then re-take the Pressure tests at the end of a 2 week period and compare my results. I will see improvements in each of the 5 area’s listed above. If I don’t, then I will need adapt and change using the 5 Fundamentals of Practice (click here to read that article).
Perfect Practice Outline
Alright, I’m going to give you the outline for the practice program I’ve created for one week.
Full Swing
Drill (10 mins): Tempo – Feet Together alternating regular shots with drill
Pressure Test (10 mins): Fairways and Greens Game (play 9 imaginary holes on driving range and keep score of how many fairways and greens you hit. 1 par 5, 6 par 4’s, and 2 par 3’s)
RedZone
Drill (10 mins): Quit the Flip – alternating regular shots with drill
Pressure Test (10 mins): 3 Hole Challenge (from RedZone Challenge)
Chip/Greenside
Drill (10 mins): Looking Up Tee Drill alternating regular shots with drill
Pressure Test (10 mins): Consistency Assessment (from TapIn Challenge)
Putting
Drill (10 mins): Right Hand Only Drill – alternating regular shots with drill
Pressure Test (10 mins): Drawback Game (from No More 3 Putts! Challenge)
Sand
Drill (5 mins): Weight Forward Drill – alternating regular shots with drill
Pressure Test (5 mins): 3 Hole Challenge (Pick 3 holes and alternate shot distance randomly keeping score by how close you get for each)
Homework
Now for homework, I’m not going to do a GTG for each part of my game. I’m going to PICK ONE area I need to work on the most and stick with it for the full week.
I’ll devote a random amount of time throughout the day and evening to work on this one aspect of my game.
Full Swing
GTG: Setup and Alignment
Just so happens that I’ve picked a very basic but crucial ingredient to work on – my setup and alignment. Now to do this, I’ll actually put tape on the floor of my office or a golf mat so I know for sure that I’m setting up properly.
Of course, every week the GTG will change to another item up the food chain. I’ll keep changing each week until I’ve grooved the particular area’s that may have been plaguing my game.
And if you would like access to our Single Digit Blueprint so you can build your own customized practice program, you can grab it here:
=> The Ultimate Shortcut to Lower Scores
Downloads
Weekly SDB ScheduleScheduling one week of workouts, GTG, EMF and practice based on the Single Digit Blueprint system.
Christian Henning
Onnit Academy Certified Trainer
